Dec 10, 2011

the marvelous month that was (Part 1)

It was the first day of the month. I got up quite late, at about 10, for a C++ exam from 2. I had a haircut, revised a bit and went for the exam. And that was it. The first semester in an IIT was over. For the guys not staying back for the NCC camp, the fun (and the occasional mockery of the guys who had sort of being forced to select NCC) had just begun. I'm talking of a time exactly a year ago: December 2010.
The semester officially was to get over on 4th, so I had initially booked my tickets on the 5th. However, when I came to know my exams would get over on the 1st itself, I had to prepone, although it cost me (well, technically, my dad) quite a fortune. However, the fact that I was to arrive three days earlier was known only to just three. I wanted to surprise the others, in particular, my grandparents. Everything was going according to plan, only had SpiceJet not delayed the flight by almost 4 hours (that was the last SpiceJet ticket that I booked in my life). It was so late, that my mother would not let me come back alone and decided to go and receive me herself. That was enough to create some suspicion in the head of my grandmother. I agree, she had sort of a pseudo surprise, but my grandfather and my cousin had a genuine surprise! Mission Successful!

The most anticipated event for me in that month was the wedding of an aunt of mine. However, the wedding was to take place in Silchar. Now, you'd probably not have heard of this place expect the fact that there is an NIT in Silchar. The most troubling thing about Silchar is how to reach it. There are regular buses and car services between Guwahati and Silchar, but the road quality is such that, well, 350 kms in AT LEAST 14 hours ought to speak for itself. If your luck is not good enough, there just might me a landslide and your journey gets a 24 hour extra wait, if not more. There is an Air India flight operating between Guwahati and Silchar everyday, and that is probably the best way to travel and needless to say, I chose that (no prizes for guessing why...)

The day of my travel arrived. It was the 11th. I reached the airport some 3 hours earlier (I am very, very punctual), and came to know that the flight had been delayed by about an hour. That was exactly the moment I started cursing myself because I had decided not to bring my laptop along as it was a wedding (and not a workshop). With only an iPod Touch to keep me company, I calmed myself. Then, came along a guy in his 20s, a bit stocky, with curly hair, and some weird sort of energy within him (and of course, with the inferior quality boarding pass that only Air India can provide) I started talking to him and it turned out that even he was going to Silchar. His name was Mohit and he worked for GSK. Little did I know, the wait was about to get worse...